


Candy-Coated Roses

by simplyambyy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Human, Ficlet, Human AU, M/M, Steter - Freeform, They’re only mentioned, Valentine's Day, Verona Bay AU, Workplace AU, fluffy goodness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 18:10:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13576128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyambyy/pseuds/simplyambyy
Summary: Holidays at work are always a festive time and Valentine’s Day is no exception. The entire building is covered in hearts and flowers while the front desk of every floor has a dish of Hershey’s kisses wrapped in red, pink, and silver foil. Stiles exits the elevator and makes his way towards his cubicle, smiling and murmuring greetings to his favorite co-workers on his way. For some reason, the twenty-six-year-old was in a pretty good mood and it might have to do with the cherry-flavored lollipop he knew was waiting for him at his cubicle.What Stiles isn’t expecting is the pile of roses and lollipops covering his desk space.





	Candy-Coated Roses

**Author's Note:**

> A fluffy-ish fic inspired by the Valentine’s Day candy grams and roses sales my high school used to have. Enjoy ^_^

“You are lying! You so did not pick up at that dancer at _Vortex_. I know this because I went home with that dancer from _Vortex_ ,” Stiles says, pouring an obscene amount of French vanilla creamer into his coffee mug.

Isaac, his co-worker, rolls his eyes, snatching the creamer from Stiles’ hand. Scott jumps out of the way from the spillage, nearly sloshing his own coffee onto his dress shirt. The trio were taking their usual 9 a.m. coffee break in the fourth floor break room. It was a habit that started nearly three years ago after Stiles and Scott brought Isaac, the new guy, into first, their inner work circle, and then, their regular friendship circle. Their day usually began with fucking around on the computer for their first hour of work before heading to the fourth floor break room for much-needed coffee and then actually doing work until noon hits and they can meet up again for lunch…as if they didn’t already work on the same floor.

“That’s okay, because remember when you were oh-so-curious if our bartender at _Blow_ wore boxers or briefs?” 

Isaac prompts, placing the creamer down and picking up a wooden stirrer. 

“Well, he’s a much bigger fan of going commando.”

“Dick.”

Balling up the empty sugar packet in his hand, Stiles throws it straight towards Isaac’s smirking face. The taller man laughs, ducking behind Scott, trying to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, the paper bounces off of the man’s shoulder on its descent and lands into his coffee mug. With a facial expression of disgust, Isaac pulls the balled-up packet out with his fingers and tosses it into the nearby trashcan. 

Beside them, Scott lets out a dreamy sigh, completely ignoring his friends as he stares through the window walls into the hallway, his unaltered beverage in his hand. Isaac and Stiles follow his line of sight to see two women—one brown-haired and the other a strawberry blonde—conversing in the hallway. 

“Here we go again,” Stiles says, leaning against the counter, stirring his coffee as Isaac mirrors his position next to him.

“On this episode of ‘Allison LIVE:’ Scott loses his nerve and doesn’t ask his crush out…again. Maybe he’ll actually say three words to her this time.”

As Isaac and Stiles laugh, Scott continues to be enthralled with Allison’s everything. The bounciness of her shiny hair, her dimples when she smiles, the way she wears her great-grandfather pocket watch as a necklace, her family’s crest embossed on the cover. The man was in love.

Scott sighs again. “She’s so beautiful…” Allison smiles and waves to the other woman and heads towards the entrance of the break room. “And she’s coming this way!”

Frantic, Scott spins quickly on his heel, spilling coffee onto the tile floor, some getting onto not only his, but also Stiles’ shoes as well.

“Dude!” Stiles calls out.

A panicked Scott ignores him, grabbing napkins from the mesh bin on the countertop and stooping low to clean up his spill, nearly dumping the rest of his coffee onto himself in his haste. Isaac carefully grabs the mug from Scott’s hand and places it onto the counter just as Allison, the brown-haired woman from the hallway, enters the break room.

“Hey guys,” she says with a smile, straightening the stack of papers in her hands.

“Hey, Allison,” Isaac and Stiles say in unison.

Scott, standing up quickly, turns to face his long-term crush.

“Hey, Allie...son,” he says awkwardly, waving his right hand, the coffee-soaked napkins still pressed in his palm by his thumb.

Realizing his hand isn’t empty, he quickly tosses the napkins into the trash can, a sheepish smile on his face. Allison giggles, placing a sheet of paper on the nearest tabletop.

“Hey Sc…ott.”

The man blushes, letting out a small laugh of his own. His friends try to hide their childish snickering in their coffee mugs. Scott, looks at them with wide eyes as Allison continues to place flyers on the tabletops, not sure where to go from there. The three hold a silent conversation with their eyes for an extended moment. Stiles rolls his own and leans around his best friend to speak to the woman hanging a flyer up on the break room’s refrigerator. 

“So, Allison. What are the flyers for?” He asks, before taking a sip of his coffee.

“The annual Valentine’s Day candy gram fundraiser. This year’s proceeds are going to the Wolf Mountain Sanctuary in Lucerne Valley.”

“The Hales are really into wolves, aren’t they?” Isaac says, still stirring his perfectly prepared coffee.

“I know right. I think this is the third time they’ve raised funds for wolf awareness in the past two years?” Allison said, her sentence phrased more like question than a statement.

She walks over next to the trio of men, trying to rip a piece of tape from the tabletop dispenser she brought with her while holding a flyer to one of the over-counter cabinet doors. Scott, always the gentleman, steps in to help.

“Here, let me.”

“Thanks,” she says with a dimpled smile.

Stiles and Isaac share a discreet fist-bump as they watch the two interact. 

“Smooth,” Stiles says, his voice low enough that only Isaac can hear him.

After hanging the flyer, Allison turns to leave, giving the three men a quick “see you later” before continuing out of the break room. Scott turns back towards his friends, a dopey smile on his face and a flyer in his grasp. Stiles picks up his best friend’s abandoned coffee mug and hands it to him before wrapping his arm around Scott’s shoulder and leading them towards the exit. Isaac trails along behind them after tossing his wooden stirrer into the trashcan.

“Good job, Scottie. Five whole words and a one-on-one interaction. We’re so proud,” Stiles says, half-sarcastic, half-serious. 

He removes his arm and playfully snatches the flyer out of his hand.

“Let’s see…candy grams, which include one lollipop and one rose, are one for a two-dollars, three for five, five for eight, and ten for fifteen…tabling is everyday next week from noon to two p.m. in the fourth floor break room.” 

He screws his face up with a groan. 

“Aw, man. We’re gonna lose our lunch spot. No one else comes to the fourth floor break room, but us.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s why they picked it for tabling, buddy,” Isaac says, patting Stiles on the back.

Stiles pouts before perking up a split second later.

“Hey, Scottie, you can buy Allison a candy gram.” 

“Knowing him, he’ll pussy out at the last minute and write anonymous as the sender,” Isaac laughs, Stiles joining in.

“Yeah, well, it’s better than sending fifty roses to myself, pretending they’re from some secret admirer, right Greenberg?” Scott says in his own defense, slapping the man in question on the shoulder as they pass him in the hallway. 

“Oh my god! That was hilarious. Spent seventy-five-dollars on fifty roses, and then you put your name in the ‘from’ box and ‘secret admirer’ next the ‘to.’ How the hell did you screw that up?” 

The three laugh at their co-worker’s expense as they head to the elevator at the end of the hall. Scott presses the button before placing his free hand into his pocket. The doors open second later with a ding. They enter the empty elevator, Isaac pressing the button for the seventh floor before turning back towards his friends. 

“I’m probably just going to donate a fiver like I do for every fundraiser.”

“And I’m going to send myself one from my favorite celebrity of the moment like I do every fundraiser,” Stiles said, an unashamed smile on his face while his two friends chuckle.

“Oh, to be shameless and hopelessly single,” Isaac says sarcastically.

“Your sister likes it,” Stiles snarks back, artfully dodging the half-assed punch Isaac throws in his direction.  


# ~*~

  
Holidays at work are always a festive time and Valentine’s Day is no exception. The entire building is covered in hearts and flowers while the front desk of every floor has a dish of Hershey’s kisses wrapped in red, pink, and silver foil. Stiles exits the elevator and makes his way towards his cubicle, smiling and murmuring greetings to his favorite co-workers on his way. For some reason, the twenty-six-year-old is in a pretty good mood and it might have to do with the cherry-flavored lollipop he knows is waiting for him at his cubicle.

What Stiles isn’t expecting is the pile of roses and lollipops covering his desk space. He stops short at the sight, looking around for the culprit before shoving his laptop bag into its usual drawer and plopping into his rolling chair. Not even bothering to log into his computer, the man starts to count the flowers on his desk, taking the time to check each note tag. Fifty roses and fifty lollipops, all from a “secret admirer.” Well, technically there are fifty-one roses with tags, but that last one is in his own chicken scratch with Jason Momoa’s name as the sender. Hey, the man is hot.

Stiles pauses for a moment, looking at the pile before grabbing every single anonymous rose and lollipop and marching twenty-seven paces over to Greenberg’s cubicle. The co-worker in question is in the middle of typing out a message on his phone as Stiles approaches. He looks up in surprise, placing his phone on the desk and giving Stiles an easy smile.

“Hey Stiles. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Oh, don’t ‘happy Valentine’s Day’ me, Marcus…or whatever the hell your name is,” Stiles fumes.

“It’s —”

“I don’t care what your name is, Greenberg! While the fact that you are dedicated enough to spend seventy-five dollars on a prank warms my heart, I don’t find it funny that you would send me fifty candy grams. I wasn’t even the one that brought up your failed attempt to seem lovable.”

Ignoring Stiles’ harsh words, Greenberg simply looks at his accuser with a confused expression on face.

“I’m sorry, Stiles, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Greenberg. I know it was you who did this.”

“I’m not playing. And honestly Stiles, you’re not worth a seventy-five-dollar prank.”

Before Stiles could become fully offended, another person approaches, causing Greenberg to straighten up and shuffle the papers around on his desk in a futile attempt to look busy. Stiles didn’t even have to turn to see who it was. Only one person could ruffle Greenberg feathers like that: Peter Hale, also known as Stiles’ boss.

“Mr. Stilinski, I’m sure you have a good reason as to why there is a trail of rose petals and candy leading from your desk to Greenberg’s, but I don’t care. Clean it up and get back to work. Just because today’s a national holiday, doesn’t mean you get paid to turn your office romance into a floor-wide show. Though I do admire your dedication to staying late to work seeing as your computer isn’t even turned on, yet you clocked in over twenty-five minutes ago.”

Before Stiles could even think of something to say, Peter pins both of them with a stern look before turning on his heel and walking towards the elevator. 

“Greenberg, my office. Five minutes.”

Stiles, tail tucked under him, heads back towards his desk, picking up any spillage from his trip over. Seconds after logging onto his computer, Stiles gets a message from Isaac through the company’s instant messaging program. 

Hale’s just mad he didn’t get a rose for the 11th year in a row.

Stiles cracks a small smile at the comment before closing the window and grabbing a lollipop and pulling off the wrapper. He shoves the candy in into the pocket of his cheek with a little more force than necessary.  


# ~*~

  
By the time lunch rolls around, Stiles is already over the stupid holiday. He had spent a huge chunk of his morning racking his brain over who the ‘secret admirer’ with a hefty wallet might have been while simultaneously worrying about being called into his boss’ office. He isn’t sure just how much work he actually got done this morning, but he figures his day could only get better after his big, grand entrance.

As the trio were enjoying their lunches, discussing who might be the culprit, Allison and Lydia, the strawberry-blonde goddess who Stiles had a miniature crush on when he first started working at Hale Industries, heads towards their table. Ever since the tabling three weeks ago, the fourth floor break room had become more crowded, much to Stiles’ dismay. Scott was fine with the influx of people, seeing as Allison was one of them. Isaac was just frustrated that the best snacks were always gone from the vending machine.

“Hey guys, Scott,” Allison says, brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Thank you for my rose. I’ll see you tonight, right?”

Isaac and Stiles shares a raised-eyebrow look of shock mixed with disbelief while Scott flushes red, giving his crush a small smile.

“Yeah. Pick you up at eight?”

“Okay.”

Before he could get too caught up in Scott’s budding office romance, Stiles tries one last time to figure out who the hell gave him so many candy grams. Allison was one of the organizers for the fundraiser. Surely, she should know.

“Hey Allison, is it possible you could tell me who sent my candy grams?”

Allison gives Stiles a look of remorse.

“Sorry, Stiles. Unless they put their name on the form, there’s no way of knowing.”

Stiles sighs deeply. “Thanks anyway.”

“Stiles, you should be happy someone spent seventy-five dollars to give you candy in the first place. At least someone on this Earth likes you,” Lydia says, neatly taking an elbow jab from Allison.

Jackson Lydia’s boyfriend, appears behind the girls, a cardboard tray from the cafeteria in his hands. 

“Yeah, Stilinski, or they just think your breath stinks and really wanted to make sure they got their point across. Cherry is a much better scent than ass.”

This time, it’s Lydia who hits Jackson before motioning him to walk towards the empty table across the room. Allison gives Stiles another sympathetic smile before shooting Scott a beaming one as they walk away. As soon as their back is to the trio of men, Stiles slams his head down on the table, letting out a groan. Scott places a comforting hand on his best friend’s back, giving it a quick rub. 

“Cheer up Stiles, at least one of us got a date out of this.”

“Yeah, lucky you.”

“Yeah…not really. Kira in IT sent our boy Scottie here three candy grams asking him out on a date and you obviously know who was in charge of the fundraiser,” Isaac informs Stiles.

With his forehead still against the tabletop, Stiles turns his head to look at his best friend who seconds later mimics Stiles by place his own forehead on the table.  
  
Honestly, Stiles is okay with staying at work late on national day of love. It isn’t like he had anyone else to spend the special day with so he might as well finish up the project he had started earlier that day. Plus, he didn’t want his boss to notice his car is gone despite being called out on it earlier. While Stiles is very confident in his job security, he hadn’t seen Greenberg since this morning and the man’s cubicle had been unusually empty whenever Stiles “casually” walked past it on his way to his own cubicle. Or at least he had thought it was unusually empty. To be honest, Stiles isn’t sure what Greenberg’s cubicle looked like on a normal, every day basis, but he still is sticking by his observation. 

It’s weird watching all of his coworkers turn off their computers and head out for the night as Stiles continues to work. Every few minutes, another coworker would wave goodbye to Stiles and eventually, Stiles is the only one left still typing away. Stiles nearly chokes on the lollipop he had pressing into the pocket of his cheek when someone’s voice startles him. 

“Company stops paying you at six, Mr. Stilinski. Any time after that is volunteer.”

Stiles turns in his seat to see his boss, Peter Hale, leaning casually against the wall of his cubicle, arms folded across his chest. Stiles switches the lollipop to the other check with his tongue before replying.

“Well, I figured that I need to make up for the time I wasted with Greenberg this morning.”

He gives a one-shoulder shrug, his eyes landing on the pile of candy and roses shoved to the corner of his small desk space. Peter follows his line of sight.

“What’s with all the candy grams, anyway? Trying to beat the record? I think it was ninety-nine roses with a fake one mixed in. Some romantic bullshit Nathaniel did for Talia when we first started the fundraiser,” Peter muses, disgusted fondness slipping into his tone.

“Oh, I didn’t get nearly that much. Only fiftyone…well, now it’s more like forty-three.”

Stiles glances to the lollipop wrappers sitting in his trashcan. He shrugs again, turning half-way towards his computer.

“At least no one can complain about my breath,” Stiles grumbles, mostly to himself.

It’s quiet for a moment, making Stiles believe his boss had walked away. Suddenly, he feels a warm hand on his shoulder and his boss’s breath at his ear.

“Trust me, Stiles, no one was complaining about your breath.”

The older man snags a lollipop from the pile and walks away, throwing a quick “have a good night” over his shoulder as he heads towards the elevator at the end of the hall. 

It takes Stiles four days to go through the rest of the candy and another three to finally ask his boss out to dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> So there may or may not be a part two to this and if there is, it’ll probably be posted on Valentine’s Day. 
> 
> The locations mentioned (such as Blow and Vortex) are a part of this world I created as a playground for my characters. It’s called Verona Bay, California, which is located several hours outside of Beacon Hills. (I always thought of Beacon Hills being North California so Verona Bay would be closer to South California). Anyway, feel free to check it out at veronabay.tumblr.com (mobile friendly) and also feel free to use it as a location for your own fics! (Just give me a heads up first so I can share the link on the tumblr).


End file.
